Hoshino Resorts opens its first Hiroshima property, a 54-room ryokan facing Itsukushima Shrine

Hoshino Resorts opened Kai Miyajima on 23 July, its first property in Hiroshima Prefecture, the company said in a release. The 54-room ryokan, 30 of them with private open-air baths, sits in Hatsukaichi, five minutes by car from JR Miyajimaguchi Station and about an hour from Hiroshima Airport, with rates starting at ¥32,000 per person for a two-guest room, including tax, service, and dinner and breakfast.

The site faces the Seto Inland Sea across from Itsukushima Shrine, the UNESCO World Heritage site on Miyajima island, amid a scattering of oyster rafts that Hoshino Resorts says is typical of the strait's multi-island scenery. The property is built around an infinity-style open-air onsen bath and a traditional Setouchi stone sauna, offered by reservation for ¥2,500 per person, with tatami flooring throughout and a themed room, "Kaimu no Ma," furnished with Fukuyama denim textiles and Aji-stone glass lighting.

Dinner is built around an "Aki no Kaiyukai-seki" course featuring Hiroshima lemons and oysters, and the ryokan stages a nightly dance performance, "Shirabyoshi no Mai: Itsukushima Monogatari," retelling the Heian-era history of the shrine across the water.

The opening extends Hoshino's mid-tier Kai brand — the more accessible line beneath its flagship Hoshinoya properties — into one of the country's best-known inbound draws, putting a branded ryokan bed within sight of a landmark that draws visitors regardless of season. At 54 rooms, though, it is a modest footprint for a site with that much passing tourist traffic, so the read on this one is less about scale than about whether Hoshino can convert day-trippers already headed to Miyajima into an overnight stay.